A Bruised Heart
by Beeka
Summary: Draco Hermione married, but she is abused and Harry has to step in and help his friend escape. But years later, after years without contact, how will Draco react to the news of Hermione's accident? WIP
1. Part one

**Disclaimer:** Everything you recognise belongs to JKR; I own nothing. Sadly.

**A/N:**Updates will be slow; be prepared. Sorry.

Also, as are not able to host fics with song lyrics in, they have been removed from my fics but you can find the full versions on the site listed in my bio profile. :-P

**A Bruised Heart**

**Part One**

"Where the hell have you been?" he yelled at Hermione the very second she stepped in the door. "I've been up all night worried sick about you!"

"I can imagine" Hermione muttered under her breath. He did this every time she stayed out, which to be honest, was very, very rare. And yet, here he was having a go at her, when in fact he was the one that stayed out regularly.

"Well? Where were you?" Draco continued to rant on.

"I went out for a drink with the girls and we got a bit drunk so I crashed out at Ginny's place."

"Drunk?" he stared at her, expecting some sort of apology. However, when he got no response he decided to continue: "I expect you home when you say you will! What's a marriage if you're not going to tell your husband where you are?"

"I told you, it was Ginny's birthday so we were going clubbing!" Hermione snapped at him. Why the hell did he have to be so possessive?

"Ginny?" Draco questioned her. He didn't really suspect she would stay out all night because of that red-haired Weasel. He doubted she would even be able to afford to go clubbing!

"Yeah, you know- my friend!" Hermione raged back at Draco, "or am I not allowed to have friends now that I'm married to a tight-ass git?"

Draco's lips tightened. "I just don't like the thought of all those muggle blokes leering at you while you're out of your head!" he told her.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"But then I suppose it's not muggle men I have to worry about; it's him I should be watching!" Draco scowled.

"Aarghh! How many more times, Draco, I'm not having an affair, least of all with Harry!" Hermione told him for what felt like the millionth time that month. Okay, so Harry liked her, but that didn't mean she liked him, least not in that way. "Now, I'm going for a shower! Is that okay with you?" Hermione continued to yell at Draco, but she didn't wait for a reply.

She stormed through the bedroom towards the ensuite bathroom, but not before Draco could grab her arm and pull her back towards him.

Hermione knew what was coming but she let him get on with it. She was used to it by now; it happened every time. Every time they argued, no matter whose fault the argument was, Hermione always seemed to take the blame for it.

His strong hands struck her flawless body, making marks to replace those that had just faded. She bit her lip, not wanting to show her weakness- that was the trouble with her: too dignified to show when she was hurting. She didn't cry out though. She just lay on the floor, numb with the pain that the man she loved injected her with, time and time again. She let him get on with it. It was easier than trying to fight back. She knew afterwards they could move on and forget, rather than have them ignore each other for days due to a shouting match, at which neither of them would have given in to.

His aggressive hands struck once more across Hermione's perfect skin before Draco noticed the blood that stained the cream carpet that matched the bedroom walls. He looked down at her, curled up like a child on the now scarlet carpet, and a rush of disgust swept over him.

He stared into her normally warm chestnut eyes, and all he saw was hurt. She wasn't angry at him; he couldn't help having such a temper- it came from growing up with a Death Eater as a father- but the hurt in her eyes was all that filled his mind as he strode out of the room, out of the apartment and down the road to the muggle bar where he would immerse in the smoky surroundings of drunks, whores and lusting old men.

Whilst Draco was marching down to the pub, Hermione was managing to pick herself up off the cream/crimson carpet. She managed to stand up, pulling herself up by the bed that stood in the middle of the room. She struggled through to the bathroom, where she locked the door and sank down to the cold marble-effect floor. She sat crouched with her head in her hands for several minutes. She jumped suddenly as she heard a knock on the front door.

She picked herself up again and headed for the door, but suddenly stopped when she noticed the red bloodstain on her hands and carpet. She made her way back to the bathroom, ignoring the repeated knocks at the front door, and she looked in the mirror.

There was a large gash across her forehead where she had crashed into the corner of the bedside cabinet. Blood continued to flow freely down her face and onto her hands. Why had he done this to her? He knew that she loved him, she'd turned down a proposal from Harry just so she could stay with Draco- even before them two were engaged. What more did he want from her? She'd waited a year for Draco to propose, and when he did she did not delay in answering with a firm "yes".

As she reminisced happily about their wedding day, she got undressed and turned on the shower. As she stepped into the cubicle, she gasped as she did so, as she had forgotten the heating did not yet work in their new apartment -they had only moved in three days ago and so hadn't found an appropriate charm to fix the hot water tank. Even so, she continued to withstand the freezing water that ran over her.

She let the icy water fall across her damaged body as she tenderly washed the blood from her body. She didn't understand how somebody that could be so loving, could be so hurtful. Yet again, she didn't understand a lot about Draco Malfoy.

As she stood in the shower, thinking about her estranged husband, her vision became blurry and she fell down into blackness.

As Hermione lay unconscious in the bathroom, her husband had become somewhat drunk. He had done from bar to bar, having just one or two drinks in each place before moving on to the next. It had been hours now since he had walked out. He wondered what Hermione was feeling. Little did he know she was passed out in their home, awaiting his arrival to save her. He looked at his watch, five thirty five. She would be cooking his tea right now if they had not argued.

Why did he always spoil things? Why did she get him so angry all the time? He felt slightly guilty when he remembered the blood that stained her face, but he soon shrugged that off. He wasn't going to feel guilty about what she drove him to do. If anyone should be feeling guilty it was she. She was the one who always got him so angry, and she was the one who stayed out all night without letting him know where she was. He was not going to apologise to a stupid Mudblood; he was a Malfoy.

He stepped outside of this last 'pub', as the muggles liked to call them, and took a deep inhale of the cold November air. He looked around; the street lamps were already on, giving this quiet street an orange glow. He headed down the street, the opposite direction to where he came from.

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"W...where am I?" Hermione managed to mutter to the person in whose arms she was held.

"You're safe now, you're with me." said a friendly and familiar voice.

"Dr… Draco, is that you?" she asked the man.

"No, it's me." Hermione's heart sank. Trust Harry. "You didn't answer earlier so I came back a while later and made my own way in to check if you were okay. It's lucky I did really; who knows how long you'd have been lay there." Harry told her. He sounded somewhat agitated, as if angry at somebody, but not wanting to show it.

"What's wrong with you?" she finally asked him. He paused for a moment before answering her.

"I just can't believe Malfoy!" he suddenly exclaimed. "How dare he treat you like this! I mean, okay, I know couples have fights every now and then, but there's never any need to go round hitting women! Least of all your wife!" he burst out with.

Hermione was so perfect, so special, how dare he treat her the way he did! Harry could never see a reason why Hermione had chose Draco over himself anyway. Okay, so he may have been slightly better looking, but Harry would never have hit Hermione and he knew more about her than that twat did! After everything he'd done to her, to them, back in Hogwarts, and she still chose him! He just couldn't see it. "He is such a fucking bastard! I swear, the next time I see him he won't live to hit you again!"

As Harry said these words about her husband, she immediately jumped in to defend him- a natural response after so many years- sitting up on the sofa and out of Harry's arms, pulling the robe around her tighter as she became aware of what was going on.

"That's my husband you're talking about! How dare you break into my home and start slagging him off! He may not be perfect; but-" she was suddenly cut off by Harry, who scoffed at this remark.

"But what, Hermione? What, is he that good in bed?"

"Excuse me?" she replied. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Well, I can't see why else would you put up with him? I suppose that's the only reason you got married though hey, just so you could get a little action without feeling guilty for being out of wedlock! I'm sure Malfoy only agreed to get married to have power over you. Sex toy and a punch bag in one! Very appealing to the Slytherin kind!"

"You bastard!" Hermione shouted at her friend. "Is that all you think this is about? Sex! Look Harry, you may not be able to accept the fact that I chose Draco over you, but that's the way it is, ok? You have no right to come over here and start accusing me AND the man I love of being something we're not!" she shouted at him. How dare he say this to her, did he think that was the only thing involved in their relationship- sex and violence?

"Look, you might want to get down from that pedestal you seem to be on and take a look at the real world Hermione! He's using you! He doesn't love you! Okay, so he might have liked you to begin with, maybe fancy you, but that's all it is. You just need to wake up and see it because pretty soon, there won't be anyone to come around and take care of you whenever you pass out after getting beaten to a pulp!"

"Get out." Hermione resigned herself to saying quietly after moments of silence.

"What?" Harry asked her, in disbelief.

"You heard me, Harry. I'm sorry, but if you're going to carry on the way you're acting now, then we can't be friends anymore. That's just the way it is. You can either say you're sorry and take back everything you've just said, or you lose me forever... So, what's it going to be?"

Harry just stared at her for a moment, before he picked up his things, gave her a small kiss on the forehead and headed for the door. Just as he was stepping out he turned to the beautiful woman standing before him, wearing nought but a towel which he had wrapped around her when he picked her out of the shower and lay her on the sofa, and he said: "I'm sorry Hermione, I am really, but I can't take back what I said. That's what I believe and God damn me if I'm wrong, which I pray I am for your sake, but that's what it looks like as far as I can see."

They stood looking into each other's eyes for what felt like eternity. Hermione's best friend since the beginning of her life in the magical world was walking out of her life. He turned back to the door. As he headed out, he whispered to her: "Goodbye Hermione, I'll miss you."

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Draco continued to wonder the forgotten streets until he noticed a solid brick wall at the end of a street he had never noticed before. He walked forward, uncertain of why he was heading towards a solid brick wall that blocked his way; he should just turn back. But Draco's curiosity got the better of him, as always, and he got out his wand as he approached.

"Seesee helmin overam rickostab!" he muttered and the wall in front of him slid open, like the automatic doors Draco had seen in those muggle shops, for all those lazy people who couldn't be bothered to open doors themselves.

He stepped forward and walked through the gap into what seemed to look like... Nocturn Alley! As soon as he stepped through the gap, it closed up behind him and remained to be a solid wall.

He wondered down the dark alley until he came to an opening, which led to Diagon Alley. He ventured down the path and stopped outside The Three Broomsticks. He took a deep breath before entering. He pushed open the door to face rather too many familiar faces from the past. 'It's been a while' he thought, taking in the face of a dear old friend.

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As soon as Harry had left, Hermione just burst into tears. He was right; she knew it. But she could never bring herself to face the truth - Draco didn't love her. He cared for her, she knew that, but he didn't love her. She'd always told herself that she didn't need him to love her, just to know he cared was enough, but now it just didn't seem worth it. She'd lost her best friend through sheer selfishness and her inability to face reality.

She'd made her way over to the bathroom, where she found her clothes laying in a pile in the floor, right where she'd left them. If it was anybody else who had found Hermione in the shower, naked, she would have been very embarrassed and probably would have made a big deal about it, but it was Harry. It wasn't the fact that she wanted him to see her with no clothes on, but she was glad it was him in the end. Anybody else would have probably commented on her body, the anorexic look she had about her, the freckles on her chest. But Harry wasn't like that; she knew he wouldn't have looked at her like that- as if checking her out. He just dealt with the matter in hand.

She noticed her hair still had bubbles in, so she stepped back into the shower and washed herself properly, trying not to cry any further. As the shower gel seeped into the various cuts across her body, she flinched slightly and yet more tears managed to escape her chocolate coloured eyes and wash away with the almost glacial water that fell down her.

She tended to her wounds- where there had been scars and bruises fade only a week or so ago, there were now new ones in their place. She went numb again. Whether this was due to the pain or just the sheer coldness of the water, she wasn't sure. Either way, she just wanted Draco to come home...

TBC


	2. Part two

**Part two **

When Hermione woke up the next morning to find an empty space next to her in the large king-sized bed, she wondered whether Draco had come home at all, or whether he'd just slept on the sofa as he sometimes did after they fought. However, when she went through to the kitchen to fetch herself a drink and some toast, she found no traces of her husband anywhere. She suddenly felt very worried. It wasn't unusual for Draco to stay out all night but this time she felt odd inside, like something was wrong. What she didn't know however, was that her husband was waking up himself, after a rather eventful night.

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Draco woke up early that morning. He guessed it was only about six. He turned over and found he was not alone in this strange bed. He could not remember much about the previous evening's conduct, except he had ended up paying for a king sized room to stay in at The Three Broomsticks. He carefully pushed the blonde that lay across him over to the other side of the large bed and sat up. He pulled on his clothes and went past the woman, who had her long blonde locks spread over her face. As he went to leave, the girl stirred and slowly awoke.

"Draco?" the girl said groggily

"Pansy!" Draco replied, shocked that he could have done something so awful!

"You weren't leaving were you sweetie?" Pansy asked him, doing her best to lure him back into the bed.

"Look, _sweetie_, I don't know if you realised that I'm married. So I really don't think you and me would be the _best_ course to take," he told her.

"Of course I know you're married. That whore doesn't deserve you Drakie," she replied with her butter-wouldn't-melt voice that always worked it's charm on the men.

"Don't call her that!" Draco jumped to defend Hermione. He was suddenly feeling, uncharacteristically guilty about the whole of the previous days' occurrences, as they all came flooding back to him.

"Oh, you're no fun anymore Draco. What has that witch done to you? You've even lost your touch in the bed department too, if I remember correctly." Pansy leaned forward as she said this, barely holding the thin white sheets around her famous assets.

"So you still think back that far? Not got very much of a life really have you babe? Still, I'm surprised you can remember me that long ago. Word has it you've been through more than your share of men since then," Draco said, reverting back to the lazy, ostentatious drawl he had used those many years ago when they were back in Hogwarts. Then, however, he would have been using that tone towards Hermione rather than Pansy.

"Well I guess you'd better be going back to your Mudblood then." Pansy remarked.

"Don't you want your money before I leave?" Draco asked her, smirking openly.

"What money?" Pansy asked, slightly confused, trying to work out what he meant. It was still early; her brain wasn't yet in focus.

"Well you want paying for last night don't you?" he drawled.

"How dare you!" Pansy screamed back at Draco, who just stood there smirking. "It's that Mudblood that's the whore around here! Tell me, do you get a discount now that you're married?" she calmed down and replied.

He knew if he didn't keep control of his temper, which was getting very hard to do now that Pansy was ripping into his wife, he would end up hitting somebody. Which, okay, Pansy probably did deserve, but he couldn't let anybody know about his anger problem. Therefore, he strode quickly, yet calmly out of the room without replying, and down the hall where he bid his goodbyes to the landlord and other old acquaintances before he left, thinking only of Hermione and what she would say when she found out why he hadn't been home that night.

He marched out of the familiar building into an even more familiar street. He was still shrugging on his jacket as he headed down towards a little house that stood not far down Wibb Alley. It was a small building with boarded up windows, not really noticeable between the old site for 'The Museum of Wizard History' on the right, and the tall abandoned temple-like building on the other side. Draco pushed the old black wooden door open slightly to find a deserted room, covered in dust and filth around him.

"Tut, tut, Father, I would expect better of you. I suppose cleaning was always Mother's job though, wasn't it?" he muttered to what seemed to be an empty room.

A shadow stirred behind a moth eaten armchair and a crippled figure moved forward.

"What are you doing here? I told you I never wanted to see you again!" Lucius' old and weary voice managed to announce. All the memories of that forgotten day came pouring back to Draco as he heard his father's voice for the first time in many years.

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* * *

_"Draco, tell me this is not true."_

_"I'm sorry father, but it is. All of it," the young wizard spat back at his malicious father._

_"So you're telling me that you would rather die so that Mudblood whore could live? I mean, you would die for _**that**_!" Lucius pointed his wand over to where Hermione lay unconscious on the stone floor._

_"Yes. She may be muggle born, but she's worth a thousand of you-"_

_"-Draco!-"_

_"-You think that just because you come from a long line of purebloods that you're better than everyone else. Well I'll tell you something, Lucius," he spat his fathers name, "people only do what you say not because they respect and worship you, but because they're forced to believe you're superior to them because of your blood! What a load of bollocks!"_

_"DRACO!" Lucius snapped. "Who do you think you are, huh? How would you like to be down in the gutter with everybody else? It's because of me and my 'evilness' as you so put it, that you have everything you could want!"_

_"Well, there's one thing you have never given me, and you never could. The thing I have longed for all my life," Draco told him._

_"What's that then?" Lucius was curious._

_Draco paused, looking carefully at his father._

_  
"A dad," he said quietly said whilst staring in his father's eyes._

_Not a second was wasted on Draco's part as Lucius stood thinking over this comment by his son, Draco grabbed his wand back out of his father's pocket and cast the first spell that came to him: the Cruciatus curse. _

_He cast the spell before his father had a chance to react to him stealing his wand back. As soon as he'd said those wicked words, Lucius was down on the floor, his eyes watering and a piercing scream leaving his mouth. Though Lucius had cast the spell numerous times before, Draco was sure nobody had dared use it on him. Draco lowered his wand and watched as his father cried out in agony._

_"You bastard! How could you do that, to your own father?" Lucius managed to cry out once Draco had lowered his wand._

_"It's no more than you deserve. I should have used the Avada Kedavra." Draco spat at him._

_"Why didn't you then? If I'm so evil?"_

_"I thought you should suffer. Just like you've made me do all my life." Draco told him._

_"I have only used the Cruciatus curse when you have been uncooperative. It's your own fault." Lucius told his son, who towered over him._

_"And I suppose you didn't deserve that? You've lived a saintly life so far have you? You're a disgrace, you don't even realise what you do is wrong! To you, murder is totally acceptable, just another fact of life!" Draco started shouting._

_"Well why not? It's going on, with or without me. I just thought I might as well avoid being murdered myself by joining the statistics of following the Dark Lord. It's a hard world out there. Look after number one. Of course I've always had to look after you too."_

_"I'm sorry for holding you back Father, but I'm a big boy now; you can go to Azkaban without worrying who'll look after me now."_

_"Oh stop your whining boy. Now, why don't you just scurry along to your wonderful Headmaster and get out of my life. I never want to se you again!"_

_"Don't worry father, that can be arranged." Draco moved over to the corner of the room where Hermione lay unconscious._

_"Come on Hermione, we have to get out of here now." he told her softly, while running his thumb across her face._

_She stirred and slowly her eyes opened. She'd been hit hard with spell by Draco's father, which had thrown her across the room into a state of unconsciousness._

_"Draco? Where are we?" she managed to ask._

_"I'll explain later, come on." he scooped her up into his arms and started out of the old little house. His father was still lay on the floor, unable to stand or move any distance. Draco stepped over him and through the black wooden door that lead out into the night._

_"Goodbye father" he muttered as the door shut behind him. "I hope you rot in hell."_

_From that night forward, nobody knew of any life signs of Lucius Malfoy. Word had it he'd died, but Draco knew otherwise. He and Hermione never spoke of what happened that night, it was as though they'd committed a murder; the use of the Cruciatus curse was a life sentence in Azkaban prison.

* * *

_

"Indeed you did say you never wanted to see me, but people do say some funny things when they're upset. I mean, really, who would want to go the rest of their lives without me? Come on, nobody would want such a punishment," Draco replied, amusedly, after remembering everything that happened in that awful room.

"Well I meant it. You are no son of mine!" Lucius spat at his grown up son. It had been seven years since they had last seen each other, and neither of them had really changed. The family resemblance wasn't as noticeable as before, Draco had seemed to be growing further and further away from his father.

Draco moved further into the room and took a good long look around.

"I am disappointed father. What would mother say if she could see you now?" Draco casually said as he walked around the small dank room.

"Well I don't suppose she'll be dropping by, although I can't say I expected you to visit!" Lucius replied, glaring at Draco all the while. Why had he turned up today? What was it he wanted?

"What?" Draco asked his father, noticing the evil look he seemed to be receiving.

"What are you after?" he asked. He was curious to know the response.

"I needed to release my anger." was all he said.

"Well then why-" Lucius started before he was cut off by a blinding pain that ran throughout his entire body.

There, Draco stood with his wand pointing at the man he once loved; respected; looked up to. His eyes were filled with venom and malice as he looked at his father, a shrivelling old wretch, fall to the ground one last time...

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TBC


	3. Part three

**Part three **

Lucius lay in a crippled heap on the rotting wooden floor of the dusty, dark shack of a house. Draco just stood, looking upon his dead father. For so long had Draco wished he had done it all those years ago, but now he had; well, he wasn't quite sure how he felt. He was so certain that he would feel so proud and purely happy the day Lucius died, but now that he had his whole body felt riddled with guilt. Lucius had made Draco's life hell from the day he was born; beating him and his mother; using him in ways to serve Lord Voldermort or the other Death-Eaters. But now... _he_ was a murderer. He always would be from now on. He could never shake that off; that feeling of knowing.

He took a deep breath and stepped over Lucius's body towards the front door. He pulled the door open by the large iron handle. As it slammed behind him when he entered the outside world once again, he leaned back on the door and closed his eyes as he sighed deeply and regret flowed thickly into his veins...

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Hermione, meanwhile, was trying to carry on at work as normal. She got the usual stares for the bruises that made up her face, but she didn't care about that. Draco still wasn't back. She wondered whether Draco had perhaps decided to come into work yet. He hadn't been there when she arrived in the morning though. As they both worked in the Ministry of Magic, it wasn't difficult getting in touch with each other usually.

She got up from her desk in her office on level six: "Department of Magical Transportation, incorporating the Floo Network Authority, Broom Regularity Control, Portkey office and Apparation Test Centre", and made her way down to level two: "Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use Of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters and Wizengamot Administration Services".

Both Draco and Harry were Aurors, so Hermione went down the corridor to Draco's office cautiously in the hope of avoiding Harry.

She tapped on Draco's office door, but to her surprise (to put it mildly) Harry opened it. He looked at her in great surprise too; obviously he didn't think Hermione would stop working for a second to come down to see her husband. He was about to speak so Hermione cut in before he could mention the previous night's discussion.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked bluntly. Why would Harry be in Draco's office?

"The Minister asked I get all the paperwork and files concerning the past year's incidents that the Aurors have had to deal with. As your delightful husband hasn't bothered to turn up today, I had to find the reports myself. Okay?" he told Hermione cynically.

"Oh." was all she said in response.

"I take it by the look on your face you were expecting Malfoy to be here. So what happened; he didn't bother to come home last night?" Harry continued.

"He was probably just feeling too ashamed to face me." Hermione told Harry, her voice shaking.

She knew that couldn't be the reason, but she couldn't exactly tell Harry that. She began to think about what had happened last night: how had everything turned out so that she had currently lost her husband and her oldest and best friend? As she thought about this, she had forgotten she was stood in the doorway of Draco's office with Harry in front of her. Tears welled up to her eyes and she stepped aside silently to let him past. Harry left without another word and she stepped into the large office of her husband's. She closed the door behind her, leant back against it and slumped down to the floor with her head in her hands and tears spilling onto her bruised face.

Why was he doing this to her? She may not have always been the perfect wife to Draco, but he was far from calling himself the perfect husband. Of course, in Hermione's eyes he was perfect. Harry couldn't understand it: he never would have dared imagine back in Hogwarts that Hermione would ever have allowed herself to be used and hurt like she was now by Draco. She had been so strong-minded when she was younger and never allowed herself to be worn down. He couldn't figure out what happened; how they'd fallen in love right under his nose; how she'd been able to lie to Ron and him for so many months.

He hated what he'd allowed to evolve and now he had no power to stop it. Now he just had to watch as the woman he loved got hit and abused by his worst enemy. And now they weren't even talking made him feel that much more useless. At least when they were friends he could keep an eye out for her and she had somebody she could trust if things got really bad. But whom did she have now? No one.

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It had been four days now since Hermione had last seen her husband. She didn't know where he was, or if indeed he was even alive. He always liked getting into fights, especially when he'd had a drink or two, and she wondered if perhaps he was lay in a ditch somewhere. She tried to put that thought to the back of her mind and carry on as normal. However, when in the shelter of the night, in the cover of darkness, alone in their bed, she would lay and cry for him. Why had he done this? She loved him so much and he should know by now that she'd forgive him, so Hermione wondered why he still wasn't back. Maybe it was just that he didn't love her anymore. After all, he didn't treat her in the most loving way.

As time went on and Draco still didn't return, Hermione eventually got into her own routine and started to put thought of Draco away for as long as possible. She would still think of him and wonder where he was, but she was less worried. He was a big boy; he could look after himself, and if he was choosing not to come home, she decided she would accept that and move on.

That was a fine plan, until just three weeks later Hermione became worried: she hadn't had her period and she began to feel nauseous in the mornings. At first she put it down to the stress of Draco leaving, but she had to face it eventually: she was pregnant. She took a test to be sure, which confirmed her suspicions, and then she made an appointment at the doctors to make sure everything was okay with the baby. She had no idea where Draco was, and really needed to speak to him: he was going to be a father. She couldn't have a baby on her own. How would she cope?

She picked up the phone that had been in the muggle apartment before they moved in and called Ginny's phone. Hermione and Harry, having been brought up in the muggle world obviously knew how to use a telephone, but the Weasleys and Draco were very put out to have one and found them most complicated. Ginny was just getting used to hers though.

"Hello?" she shouted down the phone, almost deafening Hermione.

"Ginny, I thought I told you- you don't need to shout- I can hear you fine if you talk normally okay?" Hermione told her as if she was explaining to a child.

"Oh, right, sure. Is this okay?" Ginny replied, lowering her voice slightly.

"Yeah. Look Gin, I really need to tell you something- it's kind of important." Hermione told her. She couldn't think of anybody else she could turn to that she could tell about the pregnancy, now that she didn't have Harry.

"Well make it quick then. I'm leaving in a minute. I must say, I'm really hurt you didn't come round to say goodbye." Ginny told her friend.

New Zealand. Hermione had totally forgotten that today was the day Ginny and Lavender were going to New Zealand for seven months for the Ministry.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ginny! Look, contact me when you get there okay? I want to hear all about it! Say 'hi' to Lav for me!" she replied.

"Sure. Anyway, what was it you wanted to say? I've got to start loading the cases in a minute."

"Oh, it really doesn't matter. It's nothing that can't wait. You don't want to miss your flight!" Hermione brushed it off.

"I don't know why we have to travel muggle style! I mean, okay, so it's pretty dangerous to use a portkey to get to the other side of the world, but I'd rather risk that than sit in a cabin for twenty-four hours!"

"Well you know, you've got death on the one hand; a really attractive option there, then you've got sitting down for a day. I know which one I'd opt for any day!" Hermione joked in reply. "Anyway, have a great time and ENJOY yourself!"

"Don't worry about that; I intend to!"

"See you in seven months then!"

"Aw, bye Hun! I'll miss you so much!"

"Me too," Hermione replied, while trying to make her happy voice sound convincing. She tried to hold back the tears that were welling in her eyes at the thought of losing that last person she could talk to.

"Bye then!" Ginny continued in her usual bubbly tone.

"Bye Gin."

The phone line went dead as Ginny hung up the phone, and Hermione slowly slouched down to sit on the cream sofa and put the handset of the cordless phone back down on the coffee table next to her. The table also had on it Hermione and Draco's wedding picture. They both looked so happy. How could it have all changed so much?

* * *

Harry answered his ringing phone. He suspected it would be Ginny calling for a last goodbye.

"Hello?... what do you-...okay...no, of course- its fine...don't worry...see you in ten then, bye."

That was the call he least expected to receive that evening. He grabbed his jacket and headed round.

* * *

Hermione opened the door to see Harry's friendly face.

"Hey." she greeted him. She didn't know what to say really after what had happened last month.

"Hey." he replied. "So, are you going to let me in or do I have to stand in the hallway all night?" he asked with a smile.

"Of course, come in." Hermione replied. She moved out of the doorway and went into the lounge area, leaving Harry to close the door behind him.

"So, what's this all about then? What were you so worried about over the phone?" he asked concernedly.

"Well, first of all, I want you to know I'm really sorry about what happened. I shouldn't have gone off at you like that. I know you were just looking out after me and I appreciate that, but I guess I couldn't handle the truth. I am so sorry, and ...I've missed you."

Harry just looked at her in shock.

"Whoa. Well, I've got to say, I wasn't expecting a full blown apology like that, Hermione!" Harry confessed. Hermione never had been big on apologies. She usually said she was sorry quietly and then moved on.

"So, um, do you accept?" she asked as her head faced down and she raised her eyebrows and chocolate brown eyes in a sorrowful way so Harry couldn't refuse.

"Of course I do, you daft thing! How could I refuse those puppy dog eyes?" he laughed.

"Well, okay then. Now that I've told you that, its time for the big news I have to tell you," Hermione continued.

"The apology wasn't the thing you had to tell me?" Harry asked, surprised.

They heard keys from the landing outside the apartment. Harry looked at her questioningly.

"Don't worry, its just my upstairs neighbours- they tend to get drunk of a Friday night and usually try their key in every apartment thinking it's theirs, until they manage to climb the top flight of stairs and find their own. They'll go away in a minute." Hermione explained. "But anyway, what I had to tell you was, well the thing is, okay, well... I'm pregnant."

"You bitch!" said an old familiar voice from the figure that just entered the room.

"Draco! How did you... where have you been? I've been so worried about you. I didn't-"

"I knew it! I always said you two were at it, didn't I?" he shouted as he came out of the doorway.

"No, Draco, its not what you-"

"Isn't it? I come home to find you two looking nice and cosy in _my_ flat and you're telling him you're pregnant! How is that not what I think?"

"Yes, but he's not the father! You are! How could you even think that I would cheat-"

"Whatever! Look, I don't even want to look at you right now! I don't know why I bothered coming back at all! I should have known!"

"Hey, she's telling the truth, okay? Hermione and me are not-"Harry began arguing.

"Whatever pretty boy! I don't care what you've got to say. But you," Draco looked at his wife, who had tears silently running down her face again, "you stupid little bitch!" he raised his voice once more and turned to leave again.

"Wait! Draco, please," Hermione called after him as he made his way down the stairs he had not so long ago climbed up.

She ran down the stairs after him and as she came to the turning point in the staircase, she tripped and fell to the bottom...

88888

* * *

TBC 


	4. Part four

**AN:** I would like to say thanks to all the reviews I have received so far for this fic, and thanks to Sara for encouraging me to get on and write some more. Sorry it takes so long between updates: real life slightly more important at the mo though. :-P Hope you enjoy this next chapter!

**xBekix

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**Part Four**

Hermione lay unconscious at the bottom of the stairs. Harry immediately ran down to her, practically flying down the stairs himself, and checked she was breathing and for any obvious damages. Draco just stood on the step he had been on, looking down on the display of his wife.

"Malfoy! Do something! Call an ambulance." Harry urgently told him, frustrated that he was doing nothing.

Draco stood still for several moments more, still in a daze from the disbelief at what was happening, until Harry's voice brought him back to reality.

* * *

"Mrs Malfoy?" the medi-witch asked Hermione when she noticed her eyes fluttering open.

Hermione looked around her, and as she took in her surroundings, realisation of what happened hit her.

"The baby!" she cried. "My baby! Is it okay?" she panicked.

"Yes, yes. Both you and your baby appear to be fine. We'll have to keep you in here for a while just to make sure, but overall everything looks okay. You have a fractured arm, but you're very lucky that's the only serious damage. You have multiple bruising and was knocked unconscious for a couple of hours, but don't worry, you will be okay." the Healer from St Mungo's explained. "Can you remember how you fell?" she asked Hermione.

"I...urm, I remember Draco was there. I hadn't seen him for so long, then he left and I had to go after him." Hermione said, more to herself than the Healer. "And Harry..."

"Well don't worry yourself with trying to remember right now, your husband and Mr Potter are in the waiting room. Would you like me to inform them you're awake?"

"Yes please. I want to see them both."

Minutes later, the Healer arrived back to the small hospital room with both Harry and Draco, who were staring daggers at each other.

88888

* * *

"What do you think you were playing at, Malfoy? She could have died!" Harry said to Draco when they sat down in the waiting area.

"What was I playing at? You're the one fucking my wife!" he shouted. The other people in the waiting area went quiet and looked at the pair of grown wizards, fighting like children. When they saw Draco stare unpleasantly back at them, they grew uncomfortable and looked away, getting back to their own conversations.

"Oh don't be so absurd, Malfoy! Hermione would never cheat on you! You might want to take a lesson out of her book on that note. But anyway, she loves you too god-damned-much to do something like that to you. Merlin knows why!" Harry told him plainly.

"What would you know about mine and Hermione's relationship? You're just a sore loser- you can't take it that I got her and you didn't."

"You _got_ her? She is not some prize to be won, you know!" Harry argued.

"Hey, I know that okay? I just meant that she chose me over you." Draco re-phrased his point.

"Well Merlin knows why, the way you treat her!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You: knocking her around like it shows how powerful you are. Well hitting women is not big or clever, Malfoy, it just shows that you're really just a coward inside." Harry said bluntly.

"Hold up, knocking her around? I do no such thing. And you're the one that's knocking her _up_!"

"Hey, I thought we'd already established this: me and Hermione are just friends. We've never been together like that." Harry told Draco.

"Whatever." Draco shrugged him off, and they sat in silence for the next hour, waiting.

"Mrs Malfoy is awake now if you'd both like to see her? Follow me."

The two men stood and followed the Healer in silence to Hermione's room.

* * *

"Hermione! Are you okay?" Harry cried when he saw her lay in the small room. Her arm was bandaged, held up by a small device for such a purpose, and her arms and face- the only parts visible to them- were black and blue with severe bruising. Her right eye was swollen up, but she returned a cheery smile at the sight of her friend.

"Yes, the Healer said I'll be fine." she replied.

"And the baby?" Harry enquired.

"Yeah right it's not your baby." Draco muttered under his breath, dripping with sarcasm.

Harry just rolled his eyes in response and looked back at Hermione, who was obviously unsettled by Draco's accusing tone.

"Yes, he or she should be just fine too. They just want to keep an eye on things for a couple of days." she told Harry, and then turned to her husband who still stood by the door. "Draco, can we talk?" she asked him.

He stepped closer to her bed, and she gave Harry's hand a squeeze.

"I'll give you two some privacy." he said, and exited, giving Hermione a small smile.

* * *

"So... how are you?" Draco said, hesitating now he was alone with his wife.

"You bastard." she said, her face and tone changing from cheery to angry in just moments.

"What?" Draco asked in shock. "What have I done wrong?"

"What do you mean? You! You disappear for weeks, no note or phone call, then turn up unannounced, accuse me of cheating on you, then storm out again leaving me to run after you and fall down the stairs. I could have died! Our _baby_ could have died!"

Draco rolled his eyes.

"It's not like I pushed you! I don't see what everyone keeps blaming me!" he protested.

"Well maybe you didn't push me, but it wouldn't have surprised me if you had!" She shouted at him.

At home, she never would have dared to shout back at him, but she didn't care anymore, she didn't want to be scared any longer, and she knew he wouldn't risk hurting her in a public place in case anyone walked in and found out.

"Shut up woman! You don't know what you're talking about! I never would do something to endanger your life like that! You should know that already."

"No, you wouldn't push me down the stairs, but it's totally okay for you to beat me until I'm unconscious, then leave me alone while you go for a month-long trip down the pub." she told him bitterly.

Draco started to get really angry now.

"Well it's not like you don't ask for it!"

"That's right, make it all my fault. I really do deserve to get beaten by my husband because I occasionally meet my friends after work, or go shopping at the weekend and don't tell you."

"I only do it because I love you so much," he told her.

"That's what I used to believe; what I used to tell myself while I was scrubbing the bloodstains put of the carpet; that you were just passionate, and cared about me so much."

"And what? Potter told you otherwise?"

"No, I realised that you _couldn't_ love me. You _can't_ do if this is what you do to me. Bruises fade, Draco, but do you think the memory of each time does? Each time is as clear as you are to me now, as vivid as our wedding day. Do you remember our wedding day, Draco? _Do you_?" she asked viciously.

"Yes."

"Really? Because I don't think you do. You see, that was the day you promised to love me forever; to take care of me and protect me from evil; _not_ beat the living crap out of me everyday for the rest of our lives."

"Shut up," Draco told her through gritted teeth, holding back from using his fists in a public place.

"Oh what's wrong? Truth hurt? Well I've had to face the music, so I think it's time you did the same."

"What are you saying?"

"I don't want you anymore Draco Malfoy. I'm not going to take this shit from you any longer. I want a divorce."

"_What_?" he asked in surprise.

"You heard me, Draco. I don't need you anymore," she resigned in lowering her tone, telling him simply how she felt.

"Of course you need me. You don't know what you're talking about: you've just had concussion," he tried to explain.

"No. This is the first time in years my head's actually clear. I can't keep fooling myself that you love me anymore. It's gone too far. There's a baby involved now, and I don't want to put my child's life at risk by bringing it up with you! I'm much stronger than you know Draco. Over these last few weeks I've come to learn a lot about myself, and you know? I think I'd rather be a struggling single mother, than one who allows herself to be used a punch bag by her so-called husband."

"So you really think you could bring a baby up on your own, huh? You'd never survive. You're weak and pathetic. You don't know the first thing about being on your own."

"Well if I didn't know anything about being on my own before, then you've certainly helped me learn while you were off on your little vacation. But I'll tell you something Draco: I may be lot of things, but one thing I definitely am _not_, is weak. I don't have to turn to violence or prostitutes when I'm confused or angry; I deal with things on my own, which shows more strength than your fucking fist does!" Hermione said, shouting what she had to say at Draco by the end, from having started off in a quiet civilized manner.

"Watch your mouth, lady!" Draco threatened.

"Or what? You're going to hit me? Well, wouldn't that be a turn for the books?" she replied sarcastically. "Well go on then, and we'll see what the Ministry has to say about that and the security of your job."

"You wouldn't dare tell anyone," Draco said in a quiet threatening tone.

"You fucking watch me," Hermione said with a smirk on her lips.

"Fuck you, bitch. Fuck. You," he said, as he headed for the door and exited, leaving Hermione shocked at her own words towards her husband.

* * *

Minutes later, Harry cautiously entered Hermione's hospital room after seeing Draco storm past the waiting area, where Harry had been sat.

"You okay?" he asked her considerately.

"I did it," she told him simply, biting her bottom lip, yet half smiling.

"Did what?" Harry asked, confused.

"I told him. Everything. About how I felt; how I wasn't going to take his crap anymore, and that it's over between us," she told Harry, still in disbelief herself.

"What? Really?" Harry asked, shocked. "Oh, Hermione, I'm so proud of you." he said, relieved, and hugged his friend- careful not to hurt her, and happy that he would no longer have to watch his friend screw her life up anymore.

Leaning into Harry, tears ran silently down her cheek and rubbed off on Harry's shirt. He moved back from her to see her face.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Nothing. I'm just... I can't believe it's over." she told him, unsure of why she was crying. She'd just said goodbye to her husband whom she loved, and her marriage; seven years of hard work, gone away, with only bruises left to show for it.

"So, what are you going to do about the baby?" Harry asked her.

"I guess I'll bring it up on my own." she replied quietly.

"Hermione, look at me," Harry said, and tilted her chin with his hand so that she was looking up at him, and their eyes met. "You will never be alone, okay? I will always make sure of that," he told her firmly.

She smiled in gratitude at her friend.

"What would I do without you, hey?" she smiled, and they hugged again.

TBC…


	5. Part five

**A/N: **Okay, so I know there are alot of angry faces out there, but don't blame me! It was everything else's fault! Honest! Okay, so there is no real excuse for having taken about eight months to update, but things just kind of got in the way. Like, other fics! Lol. But here it is anyway, so enjoy, read and REVIEW! Hopefully won't be quite as long until the next chpt as I'm getting back into the swing of things again. I think there will only be two or three more chapters as I've planned it out and there should only be enough for that many more. Until next time then (and i don't mean in 2006 this time), take care!

**xBekix

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**Part Five**

When Hermione awoke the next morning, she found Harry sitting in the armchair next to her bed, fast asleep. She silently sat herself up, trying not to nudge Harry, as his hand lay next to her own on the bed. Hermione then sat watching her friend closely: the way he breathed in and out deeply as he slept, and the way his eyes remained slightly creepily open as he dreamed. It reminded her of Draco and the way she used to watch him when he slept beside her.

Tears unknowingly welled up in Hermione's eyes as she thought about those moments with her husband. It was all over now, and she suddenly forgot why. She didn't know why she behaved so harshly towards him. Yes, she was upset and angry that she could have lost her baby, but he wasn't the one to push her. Its not as though he _wanted _to let things get this far.

Harry stirred slowly out of his peaceful sleep, and awoke to see tears streaming noiselessly down his friend's face.

"Hey, what's wrong, Hermione?" he asked caringly.

Hermione jumped at the sound of his voice, as she hadn't noticed him awake.

"Oh, it's nothing." she said unconvincingly as she wiped away her tears with the back of the hand which wasn't bandaged up.

"Is this about Draco?" Harry guessed correctly.

"What? No! Of course not! Why would I waste a tear over him?" Hermione all-too-enthusiastically replied.

"Well," Harry started, not wanting to undermine Hermione, but knowing the reason she was upset, "let's just say it _were _because of Draco, and if you _were _having regrets about what you said yesterday, then you need to know that you did the right thing." he said simply.

Hermione looked at him inquisitively.

"I mean, come on, Hermione," he continued, "if you honestly loved him, then you wouldn't have said goodbye. You knew what you were doing last night, and it was for the best. Trust me. I know that you two shared something, but there's a child to consider now, and I don't think your baby's life is worth the risk just to be with that son-of-a-bitch." Harry told her plainly.

She shot him a glance at the referral to her husband.

"Sorry," he muttered quietly, holding his head down. Even when Hermione was a wreck in a hospital bed she still managed to invoke feelings of guilt from her old accustomed friend.

"I know what you're saying, Harry, but I just don't know if I made the right choice for _me._" Hermione tried to explain. " I just can't see myself without him. He's always been there, y'know? I've never been out in the world without him; we got together before we finished Hogwarts, he turned his back on his father for me. I just don't know what went wrong. Tell me what I did, Harry." Hermione sobbed.

Taking her hand in his, Harry looked her in the eyes, and softly spoke to her:

"You did nothing wrong, Hermione, okay? Nothing." he told her caringly yet firmly. "He is the one who threw it all away: hitting you; taking advantage; taking _off_; making accusations... You did nothing to deserve that," he told her.

"But, he wouldn't have done all those things if I hadn't have driven him to it. I must have deserved it all for him to do it. I must have been so awful to live with to make him to change into such a different person to the man I fell in love with."

"Hermione, for goodness sake! You are not the reason behind this! Draco Malfoy is just messed up! There is never an excuse to treat someone the way he treated you!" Harry told Hermione, standing up from his sitting position, as his voice got louder in frustration. Why couldn't Hermione see that she was the victim in this?

"Look, I'm just going to get some fresh air: I'll be back shortly. Will you be okay?" he said, calming down and needing to escape the suffocating room.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I could do with some time to think myself. See you later," Hermione replied with a smile as Harry stood slowly and left her alone.

* * *

After another few nights in St Mungo's, the medi-wizards checked Hermione's charts, and did another ultrasound on the baby to check everything was okay, and when she was given the 'all clear', Hermione was discharged and finally allowed out of the magical building.

"It's so great to finally get out of here!" Hermione said to Harry as she collected her things into a small overnight bag in which Harry had brought in the essential items Hermione needed for her hospital stay.

When they stepped out into the chill December air, Hermione suddenly realised something.

"Where am I going to go? Draco will be at the apartment. Where am I going to stay?" she panicked.

"Hey, it's okay, you can stay at my place." Harry told her, whilst putting an arm around her to protect her from the cold as she began to shiver.

"Oh, no, I couldn't possibly. I didn't mean to sound like I was hinting. I wouldn't want to intrude…" she told him, meaningfully.

"What's there to intrude on? To be honest, I'd love the company. So, will you stay?" Harry asked Hermione encouragingly.

"Well, as long as you're sure." she replied, and smiled gratefully at her friend.

* * *

When they got to Harry's house, he let Hermione into the hallway, where the cold hit her.

"Jeez, Harry!" Hermione said as Harry followed behind with her small bag of things.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot to mention the heating's broken. I probably should have warned you about that."

Hermione rolled her eyes at her friends, though only in feigned aggravation.

"I'll put the fire on in the lounge. Come through." he said, leading from the wooden-floored hallway through a doorway directly at the end of the small corridor and into a cosy room, clad with brown leather sofas and mahogany furniture. He lit the gas fire, and soon the room was warm enough that Hermione stopped shivering. "Would you like a cuppa? Or something to eat?" Harry suggested, walking into the kitchen and calling through.

"Oh, yes a cup of tea would be lovely, Harry, thanks." Hermione replied, looking around the homely room.

She had never been to Harry's place. She used to go over to his old flat all the time, but when Draco started accusing her of having an affair with Harry, she decided it best not to visit anymore, and then Harry had moved into the new apartment when he could afford it, and she had never had chance to visit it. She felt quite guilty about not having come round more. He had a lovely place, and Hermione felt sad that Harry had no one to share it with.

Apart from Ron, Harry didn't really have many friends, least not ones that would come round to see him. He spent most of his time working; even on his days off he would quite often go in to the office to finish some paperwork. He wasn't particularly saddened by it; it was just his way of life. He never had any proper relationships with women, and so he made work his main way of life, claiming that work was actually the reason he never had a chance to meet anyone and settle down.

"Here you go, get that inside you." Harry said, bringing through a steaming cup of tea for Hermione. He placed his own down on a coaster on his coffee table, which was placed central in the room, and took a seat next to Hermione on the brown leather settee.

"Ah!" Hermione gasped as she took a sip. "You would not believe how bad those hospital drinks were!" she told him. There was a few moments' silence after this, as both friends sat thinking about the turn of events regarding Hermione and Draco. After Hermione placed her half-drank cup of tea on the coffee table in front of her, she decided to speak again: "Thank you, Harry. You know I really do appreciate this." she told him.

"Hey, no worries. It's only a cup of tea!" he replied, making light of the- what he could now see was about to be- an intense situation.

"No." Hermione said more seriously, "I mean thanks for this: putting me up, helping me out when I needed someone. I really don't know what I'd have done without you this past week. I just want to apologise for the way I treated you back when Draco left. You really didn't deserve that, especially after how you helped me out."

"Hermione, there is really no need to apologise, okay? I know you didn't mean what you said, and you reacted in an understandable way for the circumstances. What you said was true: I had no right to go round there accusing you of the things I did. You really could have done without that just then. I'm the one who's sorry."

"Well, let's just put it behind us okay? For now, I just want to rest." Hermione told Harry, and curled herself up on the comfy sofa and let her head fall to rest on Harry, with his arm protectively around her.

That afternoon, when Hermione awoke from a comfortable sleep in front of the fire, she knew she had to face Draco. She had to get her things, and to be honest, she wanted to see her husband; see how he was. However, she knew Harry would not be best pleased to hear she was off to visit her violent husband, especially considering she only came out of hospital this morning and was still not too great.

"I'll be fine." she told him. "I need to face him sooner or later anyway."

"Well I think later would be the best option for you, considering." Harry told her.

"Look, he's my husband. And I can look after myself. I'll just pop by and get some things, then leave okay? It's not like I'll be cooking his tea!" she told Harry, sighing at his protectiveness.

"Well if you insist on going then I'm at least coming with you." Harry said, putting on his jacket.

Hermione just stopped what she was doing and looked at he friend.

"No, Harry. I need to do this alone. I just think you being there would make things so much worse, considering." she tried to explain caringly.

In the end, they compromised that Harry would drive Hermione round there and wait in the car, while she went in and gathered her things.

* * *

When Hermione opened the front door to what had only not too long ago become her home, she cautiously stepped inside, quietly looking around into the open plan living room and kitchen.

When she saw that Draco was not home, she moved through into the bedroom, where she began emptying her wardrobe and cupboards. She sat down on the edge of the bed when she came to a box of things, about the size of a shoe box, placed at the back corner of the wardrobe. She had never noticed it before. Hermione slowly removed the lid of the green box, and tipped out the contents onto the bed. She picked up each item individually; looking carefully and handling each thing slowly and gently, as if it might break at any sudden movement.

Tears slowly began to trickle down her cheeks. The swelling had gone down in the hospital with the new potions being discovered and brewed everyday, and her one arm, though not healed completely, felt much better than it had done. No other signs of injury marked her; least not noticeable ones. She never even noticed the bruising across her face, ribs and collarbone, as she had grown accustomed to these branding her body for years now.

So lost was she in these items, Hermione never heard the jangle of keys outside the front door, and the approaching footsteps. The bedroom door opened slowly, and Draco stood in the doorway observing his wife.

"Back so soon? Thought you'd have stuck it out at least a week," he commented, drawing Hermione from her intense study of Draco's belongings.

"I just came to get my stuff actually, Draco," Hermione responded, sounding tired. "So just give me a minute and I'll be out of your way." she said, standing up from the bed with her back to her husband, and replacing the items in the box she found them in, and slipping it into one of the suitcases she had neatly packed her clothes in.

"Oh, don't let my presence drive you away," Draco drawled.

"Well I should be going anyway; I've got what I need." she said firmly, standing up straight with her bags in each hand.

She moved towards the door, but Draco didn't move from his stance, leaning against the doorframe. He just looked at her, as if for the first time.

"So you're really going then?" he stated, more than asked.

"I'm really going," Hermione nodded, taking in a deep breath, and then looking up into her husband's eyes. "I'm sorry, but I just can't do this anymore. I'm tired and I'm old. I just don't have the energy to keep fighting you anymore. I can't do it." she said apologetically. "Goodbye Draco." she said firmly, regaining some of the heart she had gone without for so long. It felt strange to be finally telling Draco how she felt, now that it was last time she would have to speak to him again. It was over, and oddly, she already missed him.

Draco didn't say anything. He just stepped aside and moved into the room, as Hermione took one last look at the man she once loved, and walked out with her cases.

* * *

TBC… 


	6. Part six

I know, I know. Two years?! But only two more chapters to come probably, and I promise to try and hurry them up! Thank you everyone who's still following!!   
**Part six**

Draco awoke on the sofa; where he'd fallen asleep the night before, still fully dressed and surrounded by beer cans and empty bottles of fire whiskey and vodka. He looked over to the clock and groaned as he saw it was still only two o'clock in the morning. He made to stand, but lost balance and flopped back down on the sofa. He sighed. Whenever he'd been in such a state before he'd always had Hermione to pick him up and put him in bed. Now he had no one. Still in a state of drunkenness, he reached over to the phone and called speed-dial #7: Harry Potter.

88888

"What are you doing up so early?" Hermione asked Harry as she walked through the lounge on her way to the kitchen, noticing her friend sat on the sofa silently.

"Oh, nothing. I just couldn't sleep. What about you?"

"Oh I just fancied something to eat. I swear I should be a bit farther gone before I start eating like a pig," she told Harry.

When Hermione had made herself a sandwich and came back through to the living room, she noticed something was not right with Harry. He had seemed so happy the last month she had been living with him; she wondered what could have happened to make him so subdued.

"What's up?" she asked him.

"It's nothing, really," he told her, unconvincingly.

When he looked over to see the doubtful and caring face of his friend, he couldn't help but feel bad. He had intended to keep it from her, for her own protection, but he knew she would want to know.

"Okay, well this morning when I came through to get a drink, I saw the machine was flashing, and there was a message left on the phone from two a.m," he began.

"Uhuh, and? Was it bad? Did something happen to Ron, or to Ginny?" Hermione asked.

"No, no, nothing like that," Harry said, and then hesitated. "It was Draco."

Hermione had not heard from her husband since the day she went to collect her things. She had tried her best not to think about him, but it was hard. She knew Harry was doing all he could to take her mind of things and help her settle in and keep busy, but he couldn't do that when she was alone in her bed. She had wondered what Draco had maybe been up to since she left; what the apartment was like- if he ever fixed the shower?, but she knew it was best not to dwell on the past, and she had been more successful the last couple of days in moving on in her life.

"What did he say?" she asked.

Harry leaned forward and pressed the red button on his answering machine, and a beep sounded to signify the beginning of a message, followed by some rustling in the background before Draco's recognisable voice started talking.

"Urmm, hey Hermione. I was just thinking about you, and I wondered how you are. I'm good, although I may have had a bit to drink earlier and I fell asleep on the sofa. I think I'm still a little drunk actually," Draco's slurred voice said, but then his tone became more serious; more genuine: "Actually, I'm not good. I don't know why I said that; maybe it's the alcohol. But whatever, you probably don't care anyway. Why should you?" he paused.

"I treated you badly Hermione, I know that. But I want you to know that I'm sorry. I never meant for you to get so hurt in all this, but I just couldn't stand the thought of you and _him. _But I guess I just pushed you closer together in the end. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I do want you to know that I wish you the best in the future. I wish we could have spent the rest of our lives together, but I know I drove you away and we can't get that back. Just, think of me once in a while will you? I know I'll be thinking about you, and what we could have been--- End of messages." the machine voice concluded the revelation from Draco, followed by a sharp 'beep'.

Harry looked up at Hermione, awaiting her reaction. She just moved to sit down next to him on the settee and sighed, rubbing her hands over her eyes before inhaling deeply and looking at Harry.

"Well, that I did not expect," she said simply.

"You can say that again," Harry replied. "So, what are you going to do?"

"What do you want me to do? I'm just going to eat my sandwich, go back to bed then do some serious retail therapy in the morning," she told him, smiling.

"Any excuse to shop, eh?" Harry smiled. 'Well, that went a lot smoother than expected,' he thought as he watched he retreat back to her room after finishing her sandwich. He still couldn't believe that he'd got in touch now though. He must have realised how difficult it would be for Hermione to get on with her life. Harry had done his best to distract her, but he still heard her sobbing most nights. The walls in these new apartments were thin, and she couldn't disguise the red and swollen eyes Harry was witness to most mornings.

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Another few months went by and Hermione pushed all thoughts of Draco's drunken phone call to the back of her mind. Harry began to worry about her though; she seemed to be doing almost _too_ well for someone who had recently escaped from a violent marriage and was just about to face single-parenthood. He asked her about this one day when they had been for coffee after she had had a hospital appointment for a baby check-up, in which she was told the baby was doing very well and all seemed healthy.

"Look, Harry, can't I just be happy? Would you rather I spent my days moping about feeling sorry for myself?" she asked, somewhat defensively.

"Of course not, and of course I'm so happy to see you get on with things without that rat bastard, but I can't help worrying that maybe you're just putting all this on and that you're actually still pretty messed up about it."

Hermione looked down and sighed.

"Of course I'm still messed up about it; I loved him so much. You saw what I allowed myself to put up with. I was so convinced that he'd change. I waited so long to hear an apology like the one he left on your answer machine just after I left. And to be honest, if it wasn't for the baby, I probably would have gone running back to him...again. But I do have a baby now. I have a child who will mean more to me than any man I may claim to love. So yes, I'm getting on with things. I think about Draco still, of course I do. I wonder if my baby will look like him. I wonder if he still thinks about me. I wonder why he didn't try to contact me again after that drunken message. I wonder if he'll ever move on with someone else," Hermione looked up into Harry's eyes at this point, her own holding back tears. "But I know that I'm so much better off now. I have my best friend back, I don't have to hide bruises and scars from anyone anymore, I don't have to think up excuses for why I've been out of the flat outside of work hours. I'm free. Finally. And, I'm going to be a mum. I can't wait to bring my child into the world and teach him or her about magic, and all the things children dream about. And I can't wait to have you there to help me with it all." Hermione smiled this time, and her hand reached across the table to rest over Harry's. "You can deal with all the nappies," she added, a teasing smirk creeping into her lips.

"Well, if that's all true, then I'm so happy for you, Hermione. I didn't want to push the issue, but I'm glad you see how much better off you are now. And of course I will always be around to help out with the little munchkin, although I think as biological parent, you get the nappy changing luxury." The pair laughed again and continued to have a pleasant day purchasing baby items, including a pram, and a mahogany crib, to which Hermione's hormones reacted to with a welling of tears at just the prospect of having a little child in it one day soon.

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Some more months passed, and upon the discovery that the baby were to be a girl, Harry and Hermione prepared the third bedroom in Harry's place with lilac and a pale pink paint on the walls.

"You're such a stereotypical woman. Why not have blue? Just because she's a girl doesn't mean that she can't like blue. Ginny's favourite colour is blue." Harry remarked, as pink paint splattered off the roller in hand all over the old clothes he had chosen to wear for decorating.

"I'm not disputing that women can also like the colour blue, but I just always imagined my little girl being a real girl. I mean, she's going to be fantastic at football and quidditch and all, but since I was little and dreamed of having a little sister to dress up and play with my dolls with, I just always wanted a girl who would enjoy being a girl. I've never been known for being particularly feminine; I suppose my know-it-all attitude at school didn't help with attracting girls to become close friends and teach me about make-up et cetera."

"Hermione? A know-it-all attitude? Wherever would you suppose that's how people saw you?" Harry cut in, a smirk on his lips.

"Oh shut up!" she replied, directing her paintbrush at him and flicking pink paint all over him. "I know, okay! I know I was awful. Blimey, however did you put up with me?" she asked him, recalling her strong personality that was famous through Hogwarts.

"Well actually, me and Ron used to bitch about you whenever you ran off to the library," Harry laughed.

Hermione dipped her brush into the paint pot this time and sprayed a large splattering of 'Dulux: Rose' paint at him, covering Harry's face. "You've had it mister!" she cried and they continued in such a fashion until there was more paint on each other than on the walls.

After a mad half hour of trying to avoid paint splotches all over their bodies, they called a truce and collapsed, exhausted.

"I can't believe you just attacked a heavily pregnant woman," Hermione joked with a feigned exasperated tone.

"Attacked?! Excuse me, but who started this war?" Harry intercepted. "And oh please, pregnancy is becoming a bit of an excuse with you, isn't it? 'Oh I can't push the trolley round the supermarket', 'You pop to the shops for me'. Dear Merlin, what will it be like when you've actually got a baby to watch?"

They both lay on the paint covered floor, laughing and joking for another good half an hour.

Hermione loved this; this closeness she had with her best friend. She'd hoped his feelings that he'd once had for her had evaporated. She didn't want anything to be able to get in the way of their friendship and the fantastic rapor they'd build up over the last seven months. They lived and behaved as a couple the majority of the time; eating together at meal times, shopping together, spending nights in with a good movie. But this was as far as it would ever go for Hermione. She did not like to think she'd ever lead Harry on, and yet she had just expected him to raise her child as a father figure. Was that fair?

"Harry," she spoke as they both lay looking up at the ceiling in the baby's room still.

"Yes?" he replied.

"You do like this situation we've got going, don't you?" she asked, with some apprehension. What if he said 'no' now, and took away all her hopes of having his support during this frightening time?

"Of course I do. What do you mean?" he replied, a little curious about what had brought upon this serious conversation.

"Well, I just don't want to think I've forced you into this. Maybe you don't want children. I mean, you haven't planned to have any of your own, so why should I expect you to just help raise mine and Draco's daughter?" Hermione propped herself up on her elbows at this point and looked at Harry. "I haven't just forced this out of you, have I?"

Harry laughed and sat himself up to face her.

"Of course not. I was the one who told you not to go looking for elsewhere to live, wasn't I? Listen to me, I love you, -as a friend," he added quickly, "And I would never let you struggle with this on your own. No, I never planned to have any children of my own, but that's because I never planned to meet someone and settle down. This is the perfect situation if you ask me; the child gets two stable parents, but without having to hear them ever have a domestic. If we're not involved, we can't split up. We can just _be_. Right?"

Hermione was reassured. This was why she loved Harry so much. He was the perfect man. She sometimes wished she could feel something more than friendship towards him; she got lonely, and though Harry was always around to talk to, she sometimes just wanted a man to sweep her off her feet and take care of her, in the way only someone in love could do. But this was still as close to perfect as she could ever hope for, and after a seven year relationship with Draco, this was the tranquillity Hermione had longed for.

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TBC

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